


Hidden Scars

by SierraWinchester



Series: Alive!Phantoms AU [3]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Angst, CW, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Funny, Hurt/Comfort, I die like sunset curve does usually, Jukebox, M/M, PTSD, Sad, Scars, Self Harm, Unbeta'd, adopted Willie, alive!au, alive!phantoms, and ray molina, bobby isn't in this and it upsets me, good dad caleb, juke, mentions of carlos, reggie has sucky parents, scooby costumes, sh, tw, willex, willie was a foster kid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:02:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29806050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SierraWinchester/pseuds/SierraWinchester
Summary: Everyone has scars. Here are a few stories about the scars some of our favorite characters have.
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Caleb Covington & Alex Mercer, Caleb Covington & Willie, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Series: Alive!Phantoms AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2189799
Comments: 8
Kudos: 70





	1. Willie

**Author's Note:**

> All of these chapters are fairly short, but the idea wouldn't leave until I wrote them out. The last one involves self harm references.

Alex grinned as he watched Willie swim closer, his hair slicked back with the pool water. They’d been out here all day and Alex had finally climbed from the water and was now laying on his towel by the edge of the pool, skin a pink color that he knew would turn bright red by morning. Somehow he didn’t mind. 

“You’re gonna be so whiny tomorrow, hot dog.” Willie grinned as he climbed out, dripping water all over Alex and his towel.

Alex whined and shoved Willie back, but he sat up, grinning like a fool, “Yeah, probably. But you’ll just call me cute and rub aloe all over me.”

Willie laughed and shook his hair out like a dog, receiving an indignant grunt from Alex. “Sure will.”

“Not my fault you don’t burn.” Alex mumbled as he tossed the dry towel over at Willie, stopping him from completely re-soaking Alex. 

“Nah, I’m just special.” The other boy replied and then he stretched out beside Alex, towel draped on the ground below them so the pavement didn’t burn their skin. “And you love me for it.”

Alex buried his face in Willie’s neck, hiding his blush in tanned skin. But when he pulled away he caught a glimpse of the jagged scar traveling down Willie’s calf. Fingers fanned out, reaching down to brush against it, Alex hummed, “What’s this from?”

Willie glanced down as if he’d forgotten the tissue was raised there, pink and puckered from years of healing. “Ah, old battle wound. Nothing important.”

Earnest eyes met the skater’s and a slight pout found its way on to Alex’s lips, “What is it? Come on, you’ve seen mine.” He paused, contemplating the look in Willie’s eyes. Maybe he should backtrack. “You don’t need to share if you don’t want to… I was just curious. If you’re not ready, that’s okay.”

Willie smiled and pressed a tender kiss to Alex’s forehead, brushing away the strands of nearly dry hair there, “It’s okay, ‘Lex. It doesn’t bother me anymore. It’s just from one of the times I ran away.”

The frown on Alex’s face pulled a chuckle from Willie’s lungs and he smiled, pulling him closer, “No big deal. I was dumb and it was pouring and also like three am. The family wasn’t horrible, but they didn’t really care, y’know? I was a paycheck and while they kept up appearances they didn’t care what I did so long as I looked perfect. I hated it. So I ran.”

He shrugged, fingers sliding up and down his boyfriend’s arm now, eyes closed as he remembered. “I caught a pothole and hit the ground, but I guess it just wasn’t my lucky day. There was glass or something on the ground, I think maybe a beer bottle, and it flew up when my board came out from under me and it caught my leg. Needed six stitches, but hey, I didn’t have to go back home.”

Alex whined and he leaned up, capturing his boyfriend’s lips in his. His words were soft and protective, “You never have to run away again.”

Willie laughed again, kissing Alex once more before he spoke, “That’s true. I’ve got you and Caleb and my own little family now. I’ll never have to run away again.”


	2. Reggie

Reggie had a bad habit of sliding his hand into his hair when he had bad days, fingers finding the soft mass of scar tissue hidden beneath layers of hair. His parents hadn’t meant to give it to him. At least that’s what he swore to the boys, to Julie, but he wasn’t sure.

His mom and dad had been fighting like always and he’d stepped in. His mom had begged him to leave, to go to his room, but Reggie had refused. They’d never been violent before. Of course that would be his mistake and when his dad got in his face he didn’t back down. The shove was the last clear thing Reggie remembered until his head was clearer again. 

He’d gone down, according to his mom, and smacked his head on the corner of the table. The cut hadn’t been deep enough to require medical attention, but it had given him a nasty concussion. When his brain was swimming less, later that night, his mom told him she was filing for divorce. 

The divorce had gone through a few months later and Reggie had gotten used to living in a broken home. But he still couldn’t help that his hand always found that old scar when he was thinking about his parents, about his dad who he hadn’t seen since two days before he and the band had their Orpheum gig.


	3. Luke

Luke had grinned, pridefully showing off the scar on his thigh while he and Julie changed into their costumes. It was their first Halloween show and Julie had picked the costumes, Scooby Doo. As she shrugged into her Daphne outfit she’d asked what the mess of pink and white lines were on his thigh. 

“Back before we met you, when we were still Sunset Curve, I was trying to get us a gig at this over 21 club. They kicked me out, obviously, but I dropped my wallet on the way out. I needed it back.”

“So, you what, fought with a really small bouncer to get it back?” She asked, adjusting her wig as Luke tied his ascot around his neck. 

Luke chuckled, shaking his head and picking at the sleeves on his arms, “Nah. I climbed the fence to get to the back so I could get it from the office. The top was really sharp.”

Julie rolled her eyes and rolled up his sleeves for the time being. (They could come off but that was for later during the show when all their costumes transformed into their own versions of the characters.) “Where would you be if I hadn’t shown up?”

Luke shot her his signature goofy smile, eyes locked on to hers dopily, “Probably die.”

Julie hummed, smiling softly back at her idiot, “Yeah. Probably.”


	4. Julie

Julie’s scar was obvious to anyone watching her hands, which was a fair amount of people since she played piano at most of their gigs. Each boy had asked about it at some point, and so had plenty of interviewers over the years. Each time Julie gave some random answer, something funny, usually. 

For Luke she’d told him she’d tried to go too far for a play once. When Alex asked she told him she’d gotten it from the first time she played guitar and the string snapped and that’s why she never touched the instrument again. When Reggie asked she told him a monster had attacked her as a kid. 

They only found out that she’d been messing with all of them when they did an interview with Jimmy Kimmel and he’d brought it up. She smiled and babbled out some story about a very hungry Carlos as a kid. The interview had dissolved into chaos when they boys brought up the versions they’d heard and Julie had grinned and watched them all argue. 

She smiled privately, directing it up towards the ceiling, towards her mom. She knew how much her mom would find this funny. After all, Rose had been the one to leave her unattended with scissors when she was three. Julie had only wanted a haircut and she’d slipped, cutting her palm deep enough to need a single stitch. It wasn’t an important story, just a blurry memory, but it always made Julie smile. And it made her laugh even harder to see everyone else in her life so confused by the barely there mark still on her skin.


	5. Alex

Alex hid his scars from everyone, but there’s only so much he could do. Especially since he was living with Willie and Caleb now. The first few weeks they’d let him be, giving him space as he adjusted to their household dynamic and the fact that his parents had abandoned him. But nearing the two month mark they’d forced Alex to sit down on the couch in the living room. 

“We need to talk, Alex.” Caleb spoke calmly, looking at him and not Willie. Willie squeezed the drummer’s hand comfortingly, but Alex could still feel his heart rate pick up. 

“Uh, okay… About what? What did I do?”

Caleb tried to soften his features further, make himself less intimidating, “You did nothing to get you in trouble, Alex. We’re just worried about you.”

Alex forced out a chuckle that was more fear than laughter, “Why? I’m fine. My grades are good and I’ve kept my room clean. I’m not sure what I did to make you think I’m not fine.”

Willie glanced at Caleb, using their quiet secret language that involved only their eyes, “Alex…” Willie waited until Alex met his eyes to speak again, “We know you’re hurting yourself… Just talk to us. Let us help.”

Alex sputtered, eyes darting between the two and he’d definitely be running if Willie’s hands weren’t holding him there on the couch. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Willie sighed and released one of the hands he was holding, grabbing at Alex’s shirt before he had a chance to stop him. Willie lifted it up, nudging down Alex’s waistband and revealing a scattered group of thin cuts on Alex’s hip, some of which were now pale lines. “Wanna try that again, Alex?”

Feeling his lungs deflate, Alex dragged his shirt back down and pulled his hand away, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m sorry….”

Caleb spoke now, not having moved, but his voice gentle, “No one is mad at you, Alex. We just want to help you. You don’t deserve to be hurting yourself.”

Alex scoffed at that and his boyfriend shoved him, an angry noise leaving his mouth. He sighed and shrugged, “Look….I just… I needed an outlet. The band hasn’t been practicing as much because of finals and Julie being grounded. I can’t drum here because of the neighbors. I just..I just needed everything to quiet down for a little bit…”

Willie pulled Alex into a hug, unable to help it. He’d felt this exact feeling before and he’d done this different, just running from his problems, from his foster homes. Alex took it out on himself and Willie just wanted to help him feel better. 

Caleb spoke, though, voice determined and calm. “We will find something better. Perhaps you can paint like Willie does when he’s stressed or we could sign you up for dance classes down the road. Whatever you’d like. But no more hurting yourself. Do you understand that, Alex?”

Ducking his head into Willie’s shoulder he nodded, hiding his eyes from Caleb even though he knew the man preferred eye contact. “Yeah. Understood.”

Caleb nodded, standing and patting at both of his son’s shoulders before he walked away. He was nearly out the door when he called back over his shoulder, “Willie cleaned out your room and bathroom earlier today while you did homework. You’ll be kept under his supervision for the time being.”

Alex could hear the double meaning in Caleb’s words. Willie had taken away anything Alex could hurt himself with and he’d be spending his nights with Willie until further notice. As far as punishments went, this was the best one Alex had ever had. Even if it wasn’t really a punishment to begin with. 

Somehow Alex knew things would get better. He’d paint with Willie and dance down the street and he’d get better. His scars would fade until only he could see them. Because he had a family who loved him, actually loved him, and that included his band, Willie, Caleb, and the Molinas. He just needed to let them in.


End file.
